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First Impression with Inspectlet

We place Inspectlet in the category of ‘Heatmaps / Mouse Tracking Tools’ and ‘Screen Capture Tools’. In the past, I had used Userfly, another tool in this category and had been underwhelmed. The code snippet slowed down the page and I eventually took it off. I don’t want stuff to load from another site on my page.

So, I was alittle leery Inspectlet, but Ben was favorable in his survey of UX Tools and we decided on this review. So keeping an open mind, I started to use it.

Here it is: Inspectlet let’s you observe people using your website – Actual users on the actual site. Like Coca-Cola, it’s the real thing. Paste a code on your site, and <magically> a recording shows up on the Inspectlet dashboard with a video along with key metrics – time on site, browser information (screensize and type) and number of pages viewed.

The numbers are good. It’s good to know that a visitor using IE found the site thru a google search for this spent 2 mins on this page.

The video is GREAT. It’s invaluable to know where they scrolled and clicked on the site. It’s the thing you can’t get unless you discover a cloak of invisibly and a teleportation device (Hey, I could build a kick-ass business in England if I could hook up with the Chosen One)

Inspectlet - It's Like MAGIC!... psst, it IS magic. (I'm two for two on chosen one references!)

What is the experience of using Inspectlet?

Inspectlet is surprising simple to use, considering it’s magical abilities. It’s straightforward process and nothing seemed counter-intuitive to me. I was expecting to sign up, get the code and paste it into my site, and watch some videos. Real-Time Analytics and Heatmaps are two other features. These were not so valuable to me because of the low traffic the testing sites. Analytics would be more valuable if the sites got more traffic. And, the heatmaps would be more valuable if the sites had more interaction / clicks. I suppose over time the patterns would become clear, but in the few days I tested not enough data was collected to make Real-time Analytics and Heatmaps valuable.

The videos are ‘The show’ – the real value for me. You get a table of all the captures for the site which includes – IP address, starting page, capture length, browser (type), screen size, and referer and date. Click, and you get a video display page which is very well thought out and easy to use. Each page viewed by the user gets a new ‘chapter’. You can pause the video or speed it up (up to 5x speed). Unfortunately, you can’t scrub back and forth. There is a nice feature where the video automatically skips parts with no interaction AND the sections with the most interaction (clicks and mouse movement and scrolling) are highlighted in red. All of this can be viewed in their demo -that’s what sold me on it.

The Process of setting up the test

Sign up / login / get to the dashboard

Add a new site

give it a name

RealTime Twitter Query (Twitter should be capitalized in the form – new tool!)

Analyze the results – Come up with ideas for testing questions and changes to be made

Doing this process is fairly straightforward, but I do wish for more documentation. Getting comfortable with stuff you don’t understand is key for using alot of stuff on the webs – you can’t be an expert in everything. Still I wish for more documentation. Yet, the tool just works.

I did have a problem – no data was coming in – and it was quickly resolved by tech support via an email – ON A SUNDAY. Once again, support is good. The problem was that I had the ‘Staggered Captures’ set up incorrectly. (some more documentation would be good here)

How to get the most value from ‘Usability Observation’

Here’s my thing: Using Inspectlet will benefit your usability plan. I think a tool like this should be in every UX toolbox and here’s why.

Like I’ve said before, user-testing is about observing users with the intent of improvement – to make changes. Inspectlet gets directly to the observation. You are like a fly on the wall (Great name Userfly!) You don’t disturb the user and they are having an authentic experience with your site. This by-passes many of my issues with user-testing. This is really Usability Observation.

We aren’t taking them out of the flow – they don’t know they are being watched. It’s like security cameras in a retail store. But we aren’t watching them for shoplifting. We’re watching to see where they go, how they got there, where they click.

My big issue with testing – the thing I can’t get my head around. Is what to test? What questions to ask? Observation is the answer. Observation and testing go hand in hand. Observation leads to exact and specific test questions. Those test questions lead to more observations.

Here is the pitfall: You can’t observe and test at the same time. We’ve talked about this many times, but now I’m having an ‘Inward Singing’ moment. Avoid this pitfall: by observing first. We listen first, correct? So, listen to your users. If you listen, they will tell you what to ask next. Observe first. Test second. repeat. Hmmmm. Or Observe. Change. Test. repeat.

My thoughts get unclear here: But bare with me a sec. Maybe these are the three fundamentals and they each relate and rely on the other. Observation is a form of Measurement. Inspectlet is both Qualitative and Quantitative measurement. The point is that it’s dangerous to mix the elements or try to perform them together.

We tried to remove the observation from the testing in our testing script – by starting with the participant simply using the site. Ben even suggested leaving the room while they complete the tasks. Like: “Here do these tasks and I’ll come back and we can talk about it”. That’s good. But, Inspectlet is better. They don’t know they are being watched. They are thinking about their goals and needs – not being a test subject or providing insight to you, the builder.

Natural users are better than un-natural test subjects.

So, how do you avoid messing up at writing a test question? Start with observation or a measurement. Then specifically ask / test about that measurement. Bounce Rate is a common metric we want to lower. If it’s high, people are leaving your site within 10 secs and are not going deeper into the site. You see it in Google Analytics and you SEE it in the Inspectlet video screencaptures. That’s an observation. Inspectlet would show you this – and more, you can see if the user did anything during those ten seconds. Now, make a change to lower bounce rate – put key content above the fold, make a clear call to action, make text bigger and bolder. And, the final step, make a question and test with a Usabilla type tool – “What are you most interested in on this page?”; “Where would you click if you wanted to do [insert Critical Path step one]?; “Which text would you likely read first?”. These questions test if your change made a difference. Well, you could measure again over time to see if the change made a difference. Or, you could create a Usabilla test to ask about first impressions of the site – or 5 sec test.com or Feng-GUI it.

Okay: Enough rambling. Point that started that digression is good, I feel. Here are my findings:

Observation is different than testing.

Both are important and relate to each other.

Inspectlet is an observation tool – it will provoke questions to test and changes to make.

Three general types activities in usability or design are: Observe->Change-> Test and can be followed in that order.

A few final thoughts:

Using Inspectlet, I found myself wishing for an intercom button. “Excuse me, website visitor. Why are you scrolling up and down like a madman? ” I realize now, that I want to switch from observer to tester. And, of course, I wanted to make changes. The big insight I had – do something for smaller screen sizes. Could I have seen that in Google Analytics?; yes. Did I know we have 10% ‘small’ screen use?; yes. Did it have a big impact seeing those numbers?; no, not until I SAW it with my own eyes.

We talked about finding users to test in previous posts. Inspectlet [because it is an observation tool] doesn’t have this problem. The users are right there on the site now – right now.

I bet site owners get addicted to watching the videos, just like some are addicted to watching visitor counts. There is data there – actionable data that will bring in more money. Because of that, I think Inspectlet is a great value at 8 bucks a month.

By way of explanation of that digression into the process of design and testing or website revision. I’ve just finished David Zull book on the brain Learning Cycle and I think that’s where those ideas came from. He basically says the brain learns in four stages: Gathering, Reflecting, Creating and testing. Inspectlet is a gathering tool – a sensory tool. Usabilla is a testing tool – an active probing tool. Reflecting might be Analytics – where you integrate the data and decipher patterns. Creating is where you make changes to your design and plan.

First Impression with Usabilla

We have Usabilla listed in our ‘Conduct a User Test’ category along with Loop11 and Usertesting.com. In earlier posts, Ben and I have reviewed Usabilla and concluded it would be a valuable resource for simple usability tests for websites. Basically, if you are a business owner with a website, then Usabilla is a good place to start with user testing. It’s simple. It has a usable free service plan and support resources to help you get started today.

Website testing, in it’s simplest form, is observing people using your site with the intent to make improvements. Usabilla offers a way to test users completing tasks on the website. You give a task. The user completes the task with a click and/or a note. You can see where they clicked, what they wrote, and the time it took.

What is the experience of using Usabilla?

Before I started with my own test, I studied the Usabilla features. I first heard of Usabilla on review-type blog post where the founder and CEO of the company, Paul Veugen, commented and addressed issues uncovered in the review. That shows engagement and interest. This isn’t a dead-tool or a side project for someone. It makes me trust these folks. Points for Usabilla, right off the bat.

Additionally, I liked that I could test sites [using the screencapture tool] and/or uploaded images for my tests. This allows me to follow the advice of Steve Krug and test the napkin sketch of my designs [Maxim:Start earlier than you think makes sense]. Collecting users for the test was made easier by providing a javaScrip widget to embed on the site to get actual site visitors to perform the test. And, lastly, I want to give a shout out to the Usabilla Support. I had a question about the widget placement on the page [it was being covered by the content]. I followed the ‘Chat Now’ link on the dashboard to quickly get in touch with Paul v. A. who looked at my site and instructed me how to fix my problem. Try to find that kind of support in another free tool!

The Process of setting up the test

Sign up

Create a test

give it a name

custom logo – not sure where this was used

Add a page – generated screenshot from a URL didn’t work on one page -had to use my own screenshot

Choose a task – create a new task

preview the test

activate the test

invite participants – via URL or Widget

Pause test and Edit

Analyze the results

The experience of using the tools was smooth and went as expected. No frustration or undo cognitive load. The real hard part is deciding what to test and how to test it. Thankfully the Blog was very helpful, even if the standard questions were not. Meaning, I think those standard questions won’t reveal actionable insights. More on this later.

Having the right tool means nothing if you don't know how to use it.

How to get the most value from remote user testing with Usabilla

Just because you have access to a powerful tool, doesn’t mean you can produce powerful results. The tool is only as good as the user. If this discourages you, don’t let it. Everyone has to begin somewhere [and we’ve chosen Usabilla as that tool]. Here are some of my thoughts based on my first experiences with remote user testing like this.

First and foremost, what do you test? More specifically, what questions do you ask the user about your design in order to get actionable / profitable results? I’ve talked about this before in my post,”It’s the Questions, Stoopid“. Basically, everyone has impressions and they are generally unique and varied. That makes them both hard to test and [mostly] un-actionable.

The tool, powerful as it is, allows you to test whatever you like. You can use the standard questions. IMHO, this is likely to return superficial, un-actionable results. Or, dig a bit deeper into your design decisions and ask some targeted questions and will lead to concrete site changes, more conversions, better [smoother? more elegant? less confusing?] critical paths for your site visitor through your site.

Developing this talent for question creation is the real challenge for UX experts. It requires a scientific eye for data vs noise and the creativity to manipulate the tools to reveal actionable insights. It’s hard – try it yourself and you’ll see. Of course you could be the ‘chosen one’. For the rest of us, I suggest these test questions as food for thought and a good starting point (borrowed from the Usabilla Blog post mentioned earlier).

There can be only one!

“Where would you click to start to use this product?“

Simple test of how and if the user notices the call to action and the Critical Path of the user experience. If they get it ‘wrong’ [or I should say, click where you don’t expect] or it takes a long time for them to click [nice feature of Usabilla measures this time], then you can review / revise your design and retest. Usabilla makes it easy to do this.

“Which elements make you trust on this website, and why?“

Trust is paramount on the internet. If I don’t trust a website, then I’m not likely to convert for them – buy stuff, give my info, sign up for anything. Could be just me… I believe good designers put in trust building elements into sites – certification logos, personal pictures – not stock, quality content, well known brands or imagery, etc. The question will reveal: Are users picking this up? Do they click on the elements you expect? And, because of a nice contextual note tool, the user can very leave a specific note about the design. Yep, that “…and, why?” is powerful.

hmmmm, I don't trust 'em. Been burned too many times in the past. Sorry, Ginger.

A few final thoughts:

Where you get / recruit your test participants matters, I feel. If you are simply hoping to increase the efficiency of the ‘around the watercooler’ test – sure, go ahead and use your facebook and social media to get participants. They are returning users. And, I guess, if your site is based on returning users, then this would be fine and good. But, if you need first time users, then use the widget or ask via some other means than existing contact lists.

I saw an banner ad for Usabilla where the tagline was ‘We give designers quantitative ammunition to go with their qualitative insight’. I thought this was perfectly phrased. We do test insight. We do test the assumptions that lead to our design decisions. That’s why we test. We ask ourselves: Will making this button red attract more attention? Will adding a recognizable logo increase the sense of trust in the users? Until ‘the scientists’ develop a brain scanning and opinion deciphering device, we’ll have to be creative with the user-testing tools available to uncover the effect of our designs on the user.

I’m glad to add Usabilla to our tools and recommend it to anyone looking to quickly and easily start testing today.

The monthly report is odd little creature. It’s created with the best of intentions but is too often under utilized by the people it was created to inform. There’s also the problem of the document itself. It’s confusing, or it focuses on the wrong things. It means well but too often it’s a relic of the past.

Anyway you slice it, chances are you have room to create a better monthly report.

Who Cares?

Surely, you’re thinking, this must be one of the most boring topics in all of business. In my personal experience of creating reports for clients for over a decade, rarely have these reports done their job: be meaningful to those it was created to inform.

Ninety percent of the time, the only time I ever heard from a client specifically about their monthly report was if they didn’t get one. Basically, they were only aware of it because of it’s absence.
In their mind, the monthly report was proof that something was being done. When I would send out monthly AdWords reports to my clients, only a few would want to talk about it. Most clients just filed it and forgot it.

You know you were thinking it.

The clients that filed their reports weren’t intentionally ignoring their website. I’m sure some of them treated them like their monthly financial statement from their broker: They trusted me to do what’s right for them with their AdWords account and take on faith that what’s in the report affirms that belief.

The real problem was that the report didn’t have any meaning to them. There was a bare minimum of analysis, charts from Google Analytics, and AdWords data. It was fun to see the green and red arrows showing how data changed from the month previous but none of it allowed the client to make a decision. And in a world where time is limited, to a business owner, if there’s no decision to be made, there’s no reason to read it.

Rule #1: Do Talk About Fight Club

Rule #2: Do Talk About Fight Club.

Fundamentally, the monthly report is about communication. The best way to make sure the the report is useful and is used to maximum effect is to hold a brief meeting to talk about the various considerations the report reveals.

This guy can skip the meeting.

Focus on Business Goals

The biggest problem with monthly reports is that they are overwhelmingly created as works of fiction. Everything in the report might technically be true but there’s a desire on the part of the creator to send a clear EVERYTHING’S A-OK OVER HERE BOSS message. It’s just one of those things. Once somebody gets a budget, they’ll do a lot to keep it. And bluffing in a monthly report is a good way to do it. It’s security through obscurity.

There's an XKCD comic for that.

I’ve seen reports sent to clients that were hundreds of pages of screen shots. The only reason I can think that was done was because somebody thought it was a good idea to make the report seem huge. As if a report that can double as a paper weight is somehow more valuable than one that focuses on its usefulness.

In short, the monthly report needs to echo all of those facets of the report, provide an update on what’s happened in the past month and then it should provide a way to discuss how to move forward. If any decisions need to be made or if there are items that need to be discussed, they need to be noted.

Be Comprehensive

I’ve been using the odd phrase “web plan” to this point in this post. In my opinion, a web plan is really a plan that addresses all aspects of your web presence. A web presence is the sum-total of a person or business on the web.

If all of this is taken into account when creating the plan, as I think it should be, then you have a Web Presence Plan. Everything else is a subset: a website plan or a social marketing plan or a SEO plan, what have you.

The point is, you have to design the report around the plan, and the plan should be as comprehensive as possible. Applied fully, this report will contain a lot of data. As the months pass and historical data is available, the amount of raw data will only grow. This is a good thing. Normally, this is how monthly reports die a slow death. But because of how we intend to use this document, in this case, it’s a good thing.

It’s more than communication, it’s education

My AdWords clients that I used to talk to about their monthly liked to sound informed. We’d have conversations filled with discussion about click-thru rates, cost-per-click, and page placement. Rarely though were they interested in cost-per-conversion, which is the One Metric to Rule Them All in the AdWords universe.

It’s not that there isn’t value to be had by looking at the click-thru rates, cost-per-click and page placement, it’s just that they are wholly explanatory data for the only metric that really matters: how much it costs to get a sale.

The problem was that there was a knowledge gap. On some level, clients know that web dev and web marketing firms are not going to ultimately take responsibility for what happens on their website. We’ve covered this before. As such, they feel invited to take a peek at the underlying data and to work on the analysis themselves.

While the desire to be involved is commendable, it’s at this point that the gap in knowledge and training on these topics can become apparent. Every web developer I know has a story about a client misusing technical jargon. They’ll say things like, “I need to increase my XMLs!”

Which you have to admit is a little ROFL.

It’s the job of the monthly report to point out what’s important. It needs to highlight the cost-per-conversion and use the other data to support why it is what it is.

The only way that’s going to happen is if the report makes it clear which data is primary and which is supplementary.

Analysis: Inputs and Outputs

Websites are about two things: getting people to it and what they do once they’re on it. Every facet of a company’s web presence can be grouped into one of these few categories. All social networking, all SEO, all advertising is about driving traffic. The website’s graphic design, functional design, and content are all responsible for what people do once they’re on the website.

It’s through this lens that data should be analyzed. Looking at these two sides of the web-coin will keep the report relevant and will lead to smarter conversations.

Traffic

The initial plan probably lays out specific target metrics for the social networks, SEO, and advertising. Certainly, measure all of that and work to meet or exceed those targets. But more importantly, and more generally, how is traffic to the website? Has it been trending up? Do you know why? Do you see opportunities in SEO, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., to increase traffic?

Website Function

How are sales/leads? How has it been trending? What’s the average bill of sale? What are the best sellers? Why are they the best sellers? What’s being done to address strengthening the critical path? How does the conversion funnel look? Has any user testing been done? Has that testing revealed anything about page-specific elements that need addressing?

Build from the ground up, present from the top down

The key to the whole thing is to provide the data but to put it in an appendix at the end of the document. The monthly report is about business, not technology. The technological concerns arise because they support the business goals. So kick the tech stats to the back of the report and put the analysis front and center.

In most monthly reports the data is front-and-center and the analysis is gravy. The data shouldn’t be front-and-center, it should be be the supporting documentation. The meat of the report should be a discussion of the various decisions, considerations, and opportunities that rise out of the data.

It’s also necessary to recognize that business happens in a larger context: what time of year it is, changes to how things are done online, etc. It’s a good practice to get in the habit of summarizing the current environment before moving into the analysis. You want to set up the discussion so that everybody sees as much of the field as possible. Providing environmental context allows the client – who is probably not online every day – to orient themselves before being asked to make some decisions.

Put it all together and a typical report would loosely be structured like this:

Current environment (1 page or less)

Analysis: Decisions/Considerations/Opportunities (2 pages or less)

Supporting Data

Full Data Appendix

Create Accountability

I’m a big fan of accountability. That goes for the developer as well as the client. If a client says they’ll be responsible for creating some content, they should be responsible for the outcome of not creating that content. After all, it’s hard to promote a blog that rarely has new content.

The best way to force accountability is to get signatures next to all decisions. Then if things aren’t done according to the plan, there’s a physical record of who dropped the ball.

The thing is, there are a few ways things can go right and about an infinite number of ways they can go wrong. Getting signatures is a way of enforcing the rules set forth in the original web plan. It might sound like a grumpy old man to demand a physical signature but it’s really just trying to prevent problems down the road.

I recommend adding one page to the monthly report after the monthly meeting: it’s a page that details what’s going to be done in the next month. Next to each line item is a signature of everybody responsible for making that line item happen.

Once you have that document, make copies and send them to everybody involved. You keep the original. At the end of the year when you’re doing your annual report, these documents will be the star of the show. And because there are literal signatures on what was supposed to be done, nobody can feign ignorance.

The goal, of course, is not to get people in trouble or to create ill-will but to keep everybody accountable for their responsibilities.

We’ve all experienced the problem of people helping in places where they aren’t supposed to be. This provides a way to discuss that issue too. If your name isn’t signed next to the line item, you don’t need to be involved. Simple as that.

The monthly report is the way the web plan gets accomplished. It’s a tool. And accountability is an important part of that. Without accountability by all parties, entropy starts to increase and the project suffers. Better to stop all of that before it starts. Get the signature.

It’s A Living Document

Monthly reports are their most effective when they’re treated like a living document. It’s meant to reflect conditions on the ground, both in the past month and historically and to provide a way for leaders to make decisions to accomplish the business goals.

Over time, the goals are going to change. The things done to various parts of the company’s web presence will change. When it does, let the report change too. Don’t fit the data into the report, fit the report to the data.

The bad monthly reports we’ve all seen in the past failed to change as the business needs changed. They’re paper zombies; undead and here to eat your brains.

Rather, stay focused on your client’s needs. Create a document that addresses those needs and updates the web plan and talk about it, every month.

A report that does all of that creates the conditions for success and growth and validates you as the monkey that knows how to keep its eye on the banana.

This post is Part 2 of a 2-part series of blog posts on the initial prospect meeting. Jump into the first one or keep reading to jump right in the thick of it.

The setup for this meeting is one I’ve encountered dozens of times over the years: I’m out and about and meet a guy who runs a business. When he finds out that I do web design, he starts talking about how he needs to get his website into shape. We make an appointment to talk about it and that’s that.

From his point of view, he just made an appointment with a web guy to talk about websites. It’s no different to him than making an appointment with his car guy to change his oil.

But from my point of view, I want his website to work better for him. At the meeting, I’m going to tell him how I can make that happen. Chances are, it’s going to be a bit much to take in. My pitch has a high upside: more money comes out; but it also has a potential downside: loss of some control. It won’t be a problem for every prospect, but it’s worth keeping in the back of your mind that change is hard for people. As an agent of change, you’re going to encounter some resistance from time to time. The key to lowering their resistance is to continually point back to how you’re working to meet their specific business goals.

The goals of this initial meeting are to:

Find out if we are a good fit

Kick start the relationship

Find out their situation

Propose a way forward

Set a date for a future meeting to make things official

Not every meeting will go this way. It all depends on the relationship you have with your prospect before the meeting and whether or not they are willing to think and act on this level. Not everybody will get it, and that’s okay. But in a general sense, here’s how I’d do it:

This is my 10-step critical path for a successful initial meeting with a prospective small business client.

1. Introductions

Take a few minutes and find some personal points of commonality. Try to connect with them. Do not be perfunctory with this. Take the time for a little business gossip. Be prepared but be genuine. It lays the foundation for the next part. If this were a date, consider it a quick coffee date. You should already know about their website, their Twitter feed, their YouTube channel, their Facebook wall, and a bit about their SEO. Use probing questions about each of those things to ferret out point #2.

2. Discover their problem(s)

Invariably it’s going to be “not enough sales”, “not enough leads”, or “I can’t find myself on Google” which is really the same as saying “not enough sales/leads”. Let this take you on a discussion about the sales/lead performance. If you can, discover their break even point or other numbers that let you contextualize their revenue. You have a duty to their bottom line so asking about it is a fair, if delicate, game.

There’s also a fair number of businesses who don’t think about their bottom line as much as they think about some other aspect of their business. For some, their website is an exercise in branding. For others, they really do just want some simple web changes. Whatever the reasons are that made the meeting happen in the first place, find out what those are.

Note: People don’t always know what they want. The Internet is still an ephemeral place for a lot of people. For this reason, it’s a good idea to stick to business objectives or their kissing-cousin, business related political decisions.

Pictured: business politics

3. Find out who their stakeholders are and what those people do

Many times there are other people, not at the initial meeting, who are affected by how the website performs. You need to find out who they are, what they do, and what their needs are from the website.

Revenue will always be the #1 goal but a close second comes office politics and we cannot be successful unless everybody’s concerns are addressed and there’s institutional support for the project. This even applies to 1-man shops. If a guy has a business and a wife, it’s a safe bet that his wife has an opinion about the website. She’s a stakeholder, and so, what she thinks matters. These are the people that are going to be talking about the website and who feel responsible for it in some manner, so they have to be accounted for. Find out who they are and what’s important to them.

4. Determine the Win State(s)

It’s not enough to know that a website needs to drive revenue. We also need to know how much and how soon. In my mind, an ideal win state looks like this.

“Steve needs website revenue to increase from an average of $100 a month to an average of $500 by July 31st.”

“Ann needs to provide an easier way for customers to return unwanted merchandise by December 26th.”

These Win States can be viewed as goals and objectives and should fit the SMART criteria.

Specific – Targeted to a clear and unambiguous business goalMeasurable – Answers the question “How will I know when the goal is met?”Attainable – Can be achieved with effortRelevant – Answers the question “Is the goal worthwhile?” “Is this what I really want?”Time-Bound – Creates a time-frame and deadline

Essentially you need to know who needs what by when. These are known as SMART goals.

Goal oriented.

5. Do the math and create the mission(s)

When a SMART goal is written in the format above, it’s easy to do the math. Once you do the math, those answers can be stated as missions. Let’s look at the above examples:

“Steve needs website revenue to increase from an average of $100 a month to an average of $500 by July 31st.”

The math:

$500 – $100 = $400
Nov. 11 – March 31 = 4.5 months

The mission: Increase the website’s average monthly revenue by $400 (or 400%) in 4.5 months.

“Ann needs to provide an easier way for customers to return unwanted merchandise by December 26th.”

The math:

Nov. 11 – Dec. 26 = 45 days

The mission: Create a measurably easier way for customers to return unwanted merchandise in the next 45 days.

Now that you know your mission, you can develop a plan to accomplish it.

6. Define the relationship

In light of these missions, discuss the kind of relationship the prospective client is expecting. Is this a one-time thing (in which case all the mission planning is unnecessary) or is this the beginning of a business relationship? Personally, I wouldn’t do anything without a minimum of a six-month commitment. We want to make the website perform better in measurable ways. A six-month commitment is trivial in the larger context of a never ending web presence.

Think about it. If a business currently has a website, unless the web changes fundamentally or goes away, those businesses will ALWAYS have an Internet presence from here on out. Six-months is not a lot of time to ask for starting a relationship with a client.We want ongoing relationships with clients. It’s the only way we can be sure to effect positive change. If you start off without a sufficient length of time to be successful, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

7. Rough out a framework for success

Most projects fail when they lose momentum. Successful projects maintain a sense of energy throughout the project. When people feel energy loss, they get stressed out and it makes the whole thing less fun. Instituting a calendar for the cycle of measuring, analysis, changing, and measuring again and sticking to it is the quickest way to alleviate the problem of a project losing energy.

Next, assign roles and responsibilities to everybody involved. This includes the prospect. If he’s responsible for content (say, a blog post) – make sure he knows it and agrees to write it by a certain date. And tell him you’re going to quarterback the whole thing so if he waits until the last minute, you’re going to be on his case about it.Ultimately you’re responsible for making sure the system laid out here is implemented. That’s your role, Mr. WebGuy. You’re the quarterback – insofar as you are responsible for making sure the plan comes together. Don’t disappoint the Colonel.

Cigars for everybody!

But, do remember that this is an initial meeting so treat this exercise at this point as a back-of-the-envelope plan. It can be broad as long as it illustrates the point. This will be done more in-depth at the next meeting. Getting the point across on how the process works is more important at this stage than getting mired in the details.

This is also the place where you can whip out all your fancy toys. Show off Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Inspectlet, Feng-GUI, Usabilla or whatever other tools you use. These are powerful tools and they will make a strong impact on your prospect.

8. Set broad budgets

Budgets come down to time and money. To some business owners, time is money. It may be the first thing that is discussed because for many it is a deal breaker. In general though, the more time, the more money.

In my meeting, I’d offer an annual monthly plan that’s tailored to achieve the above missions. It’s okay to use rough numbers. But remember, there are pricing strategies. Use them.

The goal here is to get comfortable with a pricing window. Pricing is based on the cycle of measuring, analysis, changing, and measuring again. Each cycle is its own unit. Broadly speaking, pricing can be thought of as buying a certain number of units.

Your pricing may vary, but broadly speaking this will be true.

If $50 is the best a client can do – but they’re committed for a year, they can move the needle. It may be a fraction of what $500/mo. could do but it’s a start. Meet them where they are. If you have a minimum spend, that’s fine. But aim to find a solution for their problems that works for their budget. Be honest and set expectations here. If you don’t, this will bite you later on.

If the website meets or exceed the expectations you set here, you can bet that they’ll become more receptive to speeding up the process.

9. Give them the back-of-the-envelope worksheet

Not pictured: The actual worksheet

If you’ve made it smoothly all the way to budgets, you’re in the home stretch. You’ve answered the Who, What, When, Where, Why, How and for How Much by hitting all the points above. Things should be pretty clear. Make a copy of the notes you’ve been writing while talking to the prospect and give them the original to take with them.

Two points here.

1. People like it when you’re personal. Nothing says personal like a hand-written worked over worksheet that is all about generating more revenue for their business. That’s a valuable document to them. They’ll be glad they have it and thus glad they met with you.

2. Give them the original. You need the copy for your notes but the original – in pen – is a nice personal touch. Make sure they have it.

10. Setup a second meeting with all of the stakeholders to agree and further develop the plan, get the okay, and to sign the contract.

I believe that asking a small business owner to commit to a plan is something they should sleep on. If they are impulsive to get into it, they will be impulsive to get out of it or to change the details of the plan. I don’t believe in having them sign a contract at the first meeting. It undercuts everything that’s come before it. The whole meeting has been about clarifying their business goals and matching them to how the website functions. Shoving a contract in their face at the end of it is a bad note to end on.

Let them take the worksheet with them. Let them make a few phone calls and talk it over with the wife or the business partners or their drinking buddies or whoever else they talk shop with. This meeting, done properly, is going to get them thinking about their business in all kinds ways that are energizing to them. They want this system because in short, it’s the right way to do it.

Your goal is to setup a second meeting, or at least a phone call to set a second meeting. (They may have to check with other people to find out their schedule.) If at all possible, get all the stakeholders in the room. The system works best when everything is obvious to all of the stakeholders. They need to know what’s going on. I cannot stress how important it is to get the initial communication with them right.

Get them all in the room. Explain the situation. Hash out a plan. Come to an agreement and sign. But leave that for the second meeting.

You want to end this meeting on a strong note, but one that shows your ability to plan too. So set the next meeting, say your pleasantries and say good bye.

Follow Up

Follow up with your prospect within 24 hours. Give them another piece of information about their business or their website that’s useful. Thank them again for coming by and sitting down and ask if you can follow up with them in a few days (if you didn’t get a meeting set) or confirm the meeting.

Conclusion

In short, be pro-active, do your research, offer a high value proposition, and keep focused on achieving their SMART goals. It’s all somebody could ask for from a designer and it will give you a real platform to create successful web sites.